Introduction:
He’s a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood.
Malle made documentaries, romances, period dramas, and thrillers. He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter.
Malle's most famous works include the crime thriller Elevator to the Gallows (1958), the romantic drama The Lovers (1958), the World War II drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), the period drama Pretty Baby (1978), etc.
Tackling Challenging Themes:
At the crossroads of the New Wave, he tackled all subjects, defying the restrictions and taboos that constricted ‘proper’ French society. Malle did not hesitate to explore unpopular themes, and he was equally skilled treating such themes as French collaboration with the Nazis, child prostitution. One of his film Lacombe, Lucien (1974) was about a French boy who collaborated with Nazis during the German occupation of France in World War II.
In the 1970s, Pretty Baby (based on the life of photographer Ernest J. Bellocq) and Murmur of the Heart provoked considerable controversy. With the collaboration of Jean-Claude Carrière, he produced May Fools, a surreal and hilarious depiction of the bourgeoisie in the aftermath of May 1968.
Filmmaking style:
While showing the theme of war in his films, he avoids talking about it directly. In one of his interview, he said:
It was between Munich and the beginning of the Second World War, and I was deeply disturbed by the state of mind of French society and the world in general. It seemed to me that one way of interpreting this state of mind would be to avoid talking about it directly and tell a light-hearted story instead. For inspiration I looked to Beaumarchais, to Marivaux, to the classical authors, and to the field of comedy.
His experiences of studying at a Roman Catholic school in Fontainebleau that sheltered Jewish boys during World War II, inspired his production of the film Goodbye, Children (1987), which became one of his best-known films.
Resources:
https://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/louis-malle.shtml
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Malle
https://2022.festival-lumiere.org/en/programme/louis-malle-prog.html